Display of person based information including person notes

ABSTRACT

Among other disclosures, a method may include collecting historical communication data and personal data relating to a portion of a plurality of communications, a sender of one or more of the communications or one or more recipients of the communications. The method may include generating a profile based on the collected historical communication data and personal data. The method may include receiving user input and incorporating the user input into the profile. The method may include presenting the profile including the user input in response to user behavior.

PRIORITY APPLICATION

This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/951,880, filed on Jul. 25, 2007, entitled, “Presentation ofPersonal and Public Data Queried Through Implicit Actions”, the contentsof which are incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Electronic communications between persons for both business and personaluse have increased substantially in recent years. In addition to thenumber of communications increasing, the number of availablecommunication mediums has also increased. In addition to e-mailcommunications and telephone communications, additional forms ofcommunication have become common in recent years, including instantmessaging, social network messaging and commenting, message boardposting, text messaging, and Voice Over Internet Protocolcommunications.

These additional forms of communication have led to individualsexchanging communications with more people than ever before, which leadsto an even higher increase in the number of communications sent andreceived by an individual.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to collecting and presenting historicalcommunication data and personal data.

In a first aspect, a computer implemented method for generating andpresenting a person profile can include collecting historicalcommunication and personal data relating to a portion of a plurality ofcommunications, a sender of one or more of the communications or one ormore recipients of the communications. The method can further includegenerating a person profile containing information about a person usingthe historical communication data and personal data. The method canfurther include receiving user input and incorporating the user inputinto the person profile. The method can further include monitoring userbehavior. The method can further include determining if the user hasmade a request to view the person profile. The method can furtherinclude presenting the person profile in response to the request.

The method can further include tracking mouse movements, mouselocations, keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, or active windows in order todetermine if the user has made a request to view the person profile. Themethod can further include querying one or more sources of informationto derive the historical communication data and the personal data.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A shows an example e-mail client with a person profile side bar.

FIG. 1B shows an example of a person profile.

FIG. 1C shows an example of a conversation thread profile.

FIG. 1D shows an example of a communication profile.

FIG. 2A shows an example of a person profile capable of incorporatingperson notes.

FIG. 2B shows an example of a person profile which includes personnotes.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example communication delivery system.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an example process 400 for generating anddisplaying a person profile which includes a person note.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1A shows an example system 100 for displaying a personal profilecontaining information about communications to, from, and involving anindividual. The system 100 includes an e-mail client 102 which caninclude an inbox viewing panel 104 and an e-mail viewing panel 106. Thee-mail client 102 can be a standard stand alone e-mail client such asMicrosoft Outlook or Eudora. In an alternate implementation the e-mailclient 102 can be a web based e-mail client such as Yahoo! mail or Gmailthat is viewed using a web browser. The e-mail client 102 can allow auser to view a list of e-mails in the inbox viewing panel 104. The usercan select an e-mail in the inbox viewing panel 104 causing the e-mailclient 102 to display the selected e-mail in the e-mail viewing panel106.

In some implementations, instead of an e-mail client, the system 100 caninclude an instant messaging client, a social network client, a textmessage client, or another communication viewing client. It is to beunderstood that while portions of this description describe systems andmethods involving e-mail communications, these same systems and methodscan be implemented using other forms of communication, including instantmessages, phone calls, text messages, internet message board postings,social network messages or comments, or voice over IP communications.

The e-mail client 102 also includes a personal profile 108. In theexample depicted, the personal profile 108 is displayed as an additionalpanel within the e-mail client 102 positioned to the right of the inboxviewing panel 104 and the e-mail viewing panel 106. This additionalpanel is sometimes referred to as a side bar. In some implementations,the personal profile 108 can be located at the top, bottom, left side,or any other location within the e-mail client 102. In still someimplementations, the personal profile 108 can be displayed in a standalone window, in a pop-up bubble displayed over a portion of the e-mailclient 102, or integrated as part of one of the other viewing panelsdisplayed by the e-mail client 102. For example, a pop up bubblecontaining a personal profile 108 can appear when an e-mail is selectedin the inbox viewing panel 104, when an e-mail address or portion oftext in the e-mail viewing panel 106 is selected, or when a mouse iconis moved over an e-mail address, name, icon, or portion of text. Inanother example, information can be integrated as part of the body of ane-mail, such as inserting a picture next to a person's name in the bodyof an e-mail, or inserting a person's name next to a phone number in ane-mail or attachment.

The personal profile 108 can contain information relating to a sender ofan e-mail, a recipient of an e-mail, the body of an e-mail, anattachment to an e-mail, or a person or topic mentioned in an e-mail. Inalternate implementations, the personal profile 108 can containinformation related to a sender, recipient, body, attachment or topic ofanother communication medium such as an instant message, a phone call, atext message, an internet message board, a social network message orcomment, or a voice over IP communication. The user can implicitlyrequest information to be displayed in the personal profile 108 byselecting an e-mail in the inbox viewing panel 104 or selecting textwithin a header or body of an e-mail in the e-mail viewing panel 106. Insome implementations, the profile can include additional information(e.g., derived information such as search results derived from a topicmentioned in a communication).

In some implementations, the person profile 108 can display informationabout an entity other than a person. For example, a communication may bereceived from an automated system, such as from a travel website,on-line retailer, an advertising service, or a mailing list. The personprofile 108 can display information related to the sender of thecommunication. For example, if the communication received has been sentfrom a travel website, information related to the travel website, orother communications from the travel website can be displayed. Inanother example, if the communication received has been sent from anmailing list, information related to the mailing list, or othercommunications received from the mailing list can be displayed. As yetanother example, if the communication received has been sent from abusiness entity, information about the business entity (e.g., address,telephone number, contact person name) can be included in the personalprofile.

For example, the user can select an e-mail 110 in the inbox viewingpanel 104 causing the personal profile 108 to display informationrelated to a sender 112 of the e-mail 110. In another example, the usercan select an e-mail address 114 or name of a recipient of the e-mail110 in order to display information related to the recipient in thepersonal profile 108. In another example, the user can select anattachment to the e-mail 110 in order to display information related tothe attachment in the personal profile 108. In yet another example, theuser can select the name of a person, a user name of a person, or aparticular topic listed in a header, a body, or an attachment of thee-mail 110 in order to display information related to the person ortopic in the personal profile 108.

In some implementations, the system 100 can determine if the user hasmade an implicit request to view information in the personal profile 108by tracking, for example, user input of the form of mouse movements,mouse locations, keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, or active windows.Implicit requests to view information in the person profile 108 caninclude opening, viewing, reading or writing an e-mail or othercommunication medium. For example, if the user starts to compose aninstant message, the personal profile 108 can display informationrelated to the recipient of the instant message. In another example, ifthe user views a social network profile, either within the e-mail client102 or in a separate web browser, the personal profile 108 can displayinformation related to a person associated with the social networkprofile.

In some implementations, selecting an e-mail or communication for whicha person is a recipient of the e-mail or communication can cause aperson profile 108 for the person to be displayed. For example,selecting an e-mail addressed to Steve Jones can cause a person profilefor Steve Jones to be displayed. In some implementations, selecting ane-mail or communication on which a person has been copied (for examplein a CC or BCC field) can cause a person profile 108 for the person tobe displayed. In some implementations, putting a person's e-mail addressin the To, CC, or BCC field of an e-mail or communication can cause aperson profile 108 for the person to be displayed. In someimplementations, hovering a mouse cursor or other selection tool over ane-mail where a person is listed in the To, From, CC, or BCC field cancause a person profile 108 for the person to be displayed. In someimplementations, typing a person's name can cause a person profile 108for the person to be displayed.

In some implementations, receiving a phone call or Voice Over InternetProtocol communication from a person can cause a person profile 108 forthe person to be displayed. In some implementations, initiating a phonecall or Voice Over Internet Protocol communication with a person cancause a person profile 108 for the person to be displayed. In someimplementations, listening to a voice message or other recorded audiocommunication involving a person can cause a person profile 108 for theperson to be displayed. In some implementations, viewing a writtentranscript of a phone call or other audio communication with a personcan cause a person profile 108 for the person to be displayed. In someimplementations, sending or receiving a text message to or from a personcan cause a person profile 108 for the person to be displayed. In someimplementations, viewing a person's name, contact information, pictureor phone number on a cell phone or other mobile device can cause aperson profile 108 for the person to be displayed.

In some implementations, opening or viewing a webpage which contains aprofile for a person can cause a person profile 108 for the person to bedisplayed. For example, viewing Sarah Conrad's Facebook profile page cancause a person profile 108 for Sarah Conrad to be displayed. In anotherexample, viewing an employee profile for Samantha Jared on heremployer's website can cause a person profile 108 for Samantha Jared tobe displayed. In another example, viewing Cynthia Burns' YouTube orFlicker profile can cause a person profile 108 for Cynthia Burns to bedisplayed.

In some implementations, a person profile 108 for a person can bedisplayed in response to the user clicking on or selecting the person'sname or other identifying information. For example, the user can view aweb page that lists participants in a marathon that includes severalpersons with which the user has communicated. The user can select one ofthe names from the list to cause a person profile 108 for the selectedname to be displayed. In another example, the user can view a list ofinstant message contacts in an instant message client. The user canselect a screen name from the list of instant message contacts to causea person profile 108 for the selected contact to be displayed.

In some implementations, the system 100 can be linked to a phone (e.g.,voice over IP phone) used by the user. For example, the system 100 caninclude means for detecting when the user makes or receives a phone callor text message using the phone and display information related to arecipient or initiator of the phone call or text message in the personalprofile 108. In some implementations, the user can make a specificrequest to view information in the personal profile 108 by performing asearch for a person's name or other identifying information. In someimplementations, the user can add information (e.g. person notes) to aperson profile, and search for the person profile based on the addedinformation. In some implementations, the system 100 can display morethan one person profile in response to any of the above describedactions.

In the example depicted in FIG. 1A, the user has selected the e-mail 110in the inbox viewing panel 104 and header information and a portion ofthe body of the e-mail 110 is displayed in the e-mail viewing panel 106.The e-mail 110 was received from the sender 112. The system 100 hasdetermined that the user has made an implicit request to viewinformation related to the sender 112 by selecting the e-mail 110. Inresponse to this implicit request, the system 100 displays in the personprofile 108 information related to the sender 112.

In the example, the information displayed in the person profile 108includes an e-mail address 116, a phone number 118, communicationstatistics 120, a contact network 122, a conversation list 124, and afiles exchanged list 126. In some implementations, the person profile108 can display additional contact information such as name, screennames, social network profile names, social network profile URLs,physical addresses, website URLs, additional e-mail addresses, oradditional telephone numbers.

In the example, the communication statistics 120 include the number ofe-mails received from the sender 112 and the number of e-mails sent tothe sender 112. In some implementations, additional communicationstatistics 120 can be displayed, including times of communications,dates of communications, types of communications, volume ofcommunications, length of communications, or speed of responses. Forexample, a statistic for the average amount of time it takes the sender112 to respond to e-mails sent by the user can be displayed. In anotherexample, the times of day that the sender 112 is most likely to respondto an e-mail or other form of communication can be displayed as acommunication statistic 120. In another example, a statistic can bedisplayed that lists the percentage of communications between the userand the sender 112 that occur using a telephone, the percentage ofcommunications that occur using instant messaging, the percentage ofcommunications that occur using e-mails, or the percentage ofcommunications that occur using a social network website as a percentageof all communications between the user and the sender 112. In anotherexample, the number of communications sent or received on which thesender 112 has been copied can be displayed as a communication statistic120. In another example, the number of communications received by theuser on which the sender 112 has also been listed as a recipient can bedisplayed as a communication statistic 120.

In some implementations, the communication statistics 120 that aredisplayed can be chosen by the user. The user can choose to have adefault set of communication statistics displayed, or the user canselect which individual communication statistics 120 are to bedisplayed. The user can choose to have the same set of communicationstatistics 120 displayed for each person profile 108 or the user canchoose to have a different set of communication statistics 120 displayeddepending on which person or topic the currently displayed personprofile 108 is associated with.

The contact network 122 displayed in the person profile 108 shows a listof contacts 128 that are associated with the sender 112. In the exampledepicted, the contacts 128 are shown as e-mail addresses. In someimplementations, the contacts 128 can be listed as names, screen names,nick names, employee numbers, social network profile names, socialnetwork profile URLs, telephone numbers, website URLs, or anycombination of these.

In some implementations, details about a contact 128 can be displayedadjacent to the contact 128 in the contact network 122. These detailscan include time since last communication, last form of communication,frequency of communications, total numbers of communications, or otherrelated data.

The contacts 128 listed in the contact network 122 are contacts that areassociated with the sender 112. The contacts 128 can include recipientsof communications from the sender 112, recipients of communications ofwhich the sender 112 is also a recipient, individuals named in a body orheader of a communication with the sender 112, or individuals named in adocument that is attached to a communication with the sender 112. Forexample, a person who was copied on an e-mail between the user and thesender 112 can be listed as a contact 128 in the contact network 122. Inthe example depicted, the header of the e-mail 110 as shown in thee-mail viewing panel 106 lists all.houston@enron.com as a recipient ofthe e-mail 110. The contact network 122 lists all.houston@enron.com as acontact 128 of the sender 112. In another example, if the user receivesan e-mail from the sender 112 with the subject line “Matt Smith'sbirthday party”, Matt Smith can be listed as a contact 128 in thecontact network 122 even if Matt Smith has never been included in orbeen the recipient of any communications between the user and the sender112. In another example, if the user posts a comment to a social networkprofile page belonging to the sender 112 and a person named Eric Johnsonhas also posted a comment to the social network profile page, or islisted as a friend of the sender 112 on the social network profile page,Eric Johnson can be listed as a contact 128 in the contact network 122.

In some implementations, the contacts 128 listed in the contact network122 can be collected from sources other than communications between theuser and the sender 112. In one implementation, the sender 112 canprovide a list of contacts to the user to include in the contact network122 for the sender 112. The sender 112 can provide the list of contactsto the user through sharing the list of contacts on a shared network, orby sending a communication to the user with, for example, the list ofcontacts in a body of the communication or in an attachment to thecommunication.

In some implementations, the system 100 can collect data from outsidesources in order to determine contacts 128 to be listed in the contactnetwork 122. The system 100 can query various sources to extractinformation on contacts that can be associated with the sender 112 andlisted in the contact network 122. Sources of information that can bequeried to derive contacts associated with the sender 112 can includeweb search engines, people search engines, social networks, personal webpages, telephone directories, scanned business card data or companywebsite profiles.

For example, the system 100 can perform a search of a social networkbased on the sender 112's name, e-mail address, screen names or otherinformation about the sender 112. The system can then identify a profilepage on the social network belonging to the sender 112. Any contactsthat are publicly listed on the social network profile page can belisted in the contact network 122 of the sender 112 even if the user hasnever communicated with the sender 112 using the social network orviewed the profile page of the sender 112 on this social network. Insome implementations, the system 100 can access and extract contactslisted on a private social network profile page belonging to the sender112 if the user has proper access information or authorization to viewthe private social network profile page of the sender 112.

In another example, the system 100 can use a search engine to perform asearch based on the sender 112's name, e-mail address, screen names orother information about the sender 112 in order to identify web pagesthat may contain contacts that can be associated with the sender 112.For example, the system 100 can use a search engine to perform a searchbased on the sender 112's name. If one of the search results returned isfor a blog written by a person named Mark Adams that mentions the sender112, then Mark Adams can be listed as a contact 128 in the contactnetwork 122. In another example, the system 100 can determine that thesender 112 works for the same company as a person who has sent adifferent communication to the user. This person can then be listed as acontact 128 of the sender 112. In some implementations, the system 100can collect data using a peer to peer network.

Information that can be used to collect information about contacts 128or other information displayed in the personal profile 108 can includee-mail addresses, names, screen names, social network profile names,phone numbers, personal website URLs, social network profile URLs, orphysical addresses.

The contacts 128 displayed in the contact network 122 can be listed inorder based on a ranking system. Criteria used to rank the contacts 128can include total volume of communication, volume of communication overa period of time, length of communications, importance level ofcommunications, types of communications, contents of communications,time of communications; methods by which the contacts 128 weredetermined to be associated with the sender 112, or any combination ofthese. For example, the contacts 128 can be ranked based on the totalnumber of communications between the user and the sender 112 for which acontact is also a recipient of the communication. In another example,the contacts 128 can be ranked based on the number of communicationsbetween the user and the sender 112 for which a contact is also arecipient of the communication over the course of the last three weeks.In another example, the contacts 128 can be ranked based on the numberof communications between the user and a contact for which the sender112 is also a recipient of the communication.

In another example, the contacts 128 can be ranked based on the lengthof communications between the user and the sender 112 for which acontact is also a recipient of the communication with longercommunications being ranked higher than shorter communications. Inanother example, contacts that are listed on communications flagged asurgent or important can be ranked higher than other contacts. In anotherexample, the user can choose to have contacts who mainly communicatewith the user or sender 112 using e-mail ranked higher than contacts whomainly communicate with the user or sender 112 using instant message orsocial networks. In another example, the system 100 can use the contentsof communications involving each contact 128 and the sender 112 todetermine if communications involving the contact 128 and the sender 112are primarily business related or social related communications. Thesystem 100 can then give a higher ranking to contacts associated withbusiness communications than contacts associated with socialcommunications.

In another example, contacts who are associated with more recentcommunications between the user and the sender 112 can be ranked higherthan contacts associated with older communications between the user andthe sender 112. In another example, contacts that have been determinedto be associated with the sender 112 based on e-mail communication canbe ranked higher than contacts that have been determined to beassociated with the sender 112 based on web searches.

In some implementations, each contact 128 listed in the contact network122 can be a link to more information about the contact 128. Forexample, if a contact 128 is clicked on, selected, or interacted with bythe user, a person profile containing information about the selectedcontact 128 can be displayed. In another example, the user can hover amouse cursor or other selection tool over a contact 128. This can causea pop-up bubble containing additional information about the contact 128to be displayed.

The conversation list 124 can display a list of recent communicationsbetween the user and the sender 112 or involving the user and the sender112. The communications displayed on the conversation list 124 can be alist of past e-mails, text messages, instant messages, telephone calls,social network communications, message board posts or voice over IPcommunications involving the sender 112. In some implementations, theconversation list 124 can be a list of recent conversation threadsinvolving the sender 112. A conversation thread is a series ofcommunications that can be grouped together. For example, a series ofe-mails having the same or similar subjects can be grouped together as aconversation thread. In another example, a group of instant messagesbetween the sender 112 and the user that occurred over a specific periodof time can be grouped together as a conversation thread. For example,if the user sent and received a series of instant messages from thesender 112 over a three hour period earlier in the day, and thatconversation was separated from another series of instant messagesbetween the user and the sender 112 by a period of 2 hours, the instantmessages that were sent and received during that three hour period canbe grouped together as a conversation thread. In another example, aseries of telephone calls between the user and the sender 112 thatoccurred during a set time period can be grouped together as aconversation thread.

The communications or conversation threads displayed in the conversationlist 124 can be listed in order based on a ranking system. In oneimplementation, conversation threads can be listed in order of mostrecent communications to oldest communications. In some implementations,conversation threads can be listed in order of oldest to most recent. Insome implementations, conversation threads can be listed in order ofimportance with conversation threads containing communications marked asurgent being ranked higher than conversation threads with fewercommunications marked urgent or no communications marked urgent. In someimplementations, the system 100 can determine which conversation threadsare work related and which conversation threads are social. Theconversation threads that are work related can then be ranked higherthan the conversation threads that are social. In some implementations,conversation threads can be ranked based on the number of communicationsin the conversation thread.

Communications that are listed in the conversation list can includecommunications initiated by the sender 112, communications for which thesender 112 is a recipient, communications on which the sender 112 hasbeen copied, or communications in which the sender 112 is mentioned.

In the example depicted in FIG. 1A, the conversation list 124 displays alist of recent conversation threads involving the user and the sender112. The conversation threads displayed are for recent e-mailcommunications involving the user and the sender 112. The e-mails ineach conversation thread are grouped by subject. The conversation list124 displays the subject for each conversation thread, the number ofe-mails in each conversation thread, and the amount of time that haspassed since the last communication for this conversation thread wassent or received. In some implementations, additional information can bedisplayed for each conversation thread, including: time and date of thelast communication in the conversation thread, time and date of thefirst communication in the conversation thread, other contacts involvedin the conversation thread, average length of communications in theconversation thread, total number of people involved in the conversationthread, level of importance of the communications in the conversationthread, attachments shared in the conversation thread, calendar eventsrelated to the conversation thread, other forms of communication relatedto the conversation thread, relevant web data, or average response timeof communications in the conversation thread.

In some implementations, the conversation list 124 can display a summaryor the first few lines of the most recent communication for eachconversation list. In some implementations, the conversation list 124can display a summary or the first few lines of the first communicationfor each conversation list. In some implementations, the conversationlist 124 can display a summary or the first few lines of the lastcommunication initiated by the sender 112 for each conversation list.

The files exchanged list 126 displays a list of files that were attachedto communications involving the user and the sender 112. This caninclude communications initiated by the user for which the sender 112was a recipient, communications initiated by the sender 112 for whichthe user was a recipient, or communications initiated by a third partyfor which the sender 112 and the user were both recipients. The filesexchanged list 126 can also include files that were exchanged betweenthe user and the sender 112 without using a communication medium. Forexample, the files exchanged list 126 can include files that weretransferred from the sender 112's network drive to the user's computeror network drive. In another example, the files exchanged list 126 caninclude files that were transferred to the user's computer or networkdrive from an external hard drive, flash drive, or floppy disk belongingto or populated by the sender 112.

The files displayed in the files exchanged list 126 can be listed inorder based on a ranking system. In one implementation, files can belisted in order of most recently received files to least recentlyreceived files. In some implementations, files can be listed in order ofoldest to most recent. In some implementations, files can be listed inorder of importance, with files that were attached to communicationsmarked as urgent being ranked higher than files attached tocommunications that were not marked as urgent. In some implementations,the system 100 can determine which files are work related and whichfiles are personal. The files that are work related can then be rankedhigher than the files that are personal. In some implementations, filescan be ranked based on the size of the files.

In some implementations, the files displayed in the files exchanged list126 can be grouped together. The files can be grouped together based onthe subject of the communications to which the files were attached, filename, file title, date of the file, date of the communication, filetype, or subject matter of the file. For example, if a document hasundergone several rounds of revisions, the different versions of thedocument can be grouped together so that the different versions of thedocument can be easily compared to one another. In another example, anumber of files about rain forests can be grouped together since theyall contain related subject matter. In another example, all image filescan be grouped together so that they can be more easily viewed, oreasily put into a slide show. For example, a group of image files can bedisplayed as a slide show and each slide can contain additionalinformation about the image being displayed, such as who sent the image,recipients of the image, the date the image was sent or received, orother information drawn from one or more communications to which theimage was attached.

FIG. 1B shows a person profile 130 for a person 132 named “Jen Ertel”.The person profile 130 for the person 132 can be displayed in responseto an action by a user that indicates either an implicit or directrequest to view the person profile 130 of the person 132. Actions by theuser that can cause the person profile 130 for the person 132 to bedisplayed can include viewing or selecting a communication sent by theperson 132, viewing or selecting a communication for which the person132 is listed as a recipient, composing or initiating a communicationwith the person 132, selecting or clicking on a name, screen name, ore-mail address of the person 132, or performing a search for informationrelated to the person 132.

The person profile 130 includes a search bar 134. The search bar 134 canbe used to request that information be displayed about a particularperson, topic, conversation thread, communication, or file. For example,a search performed using the search bar 134 and the search string “AllanTate” can result in a person profile for a person named Allan Tate beingdisplayed. In another example, a search using the search string“sunday_presentation.ppt” can result in information about a file named“sunday_presentation.ppt” being displayed. In another example, a searchusing the search string “2002 Sales Goals” can result in information tobe displayed regarding communications with the subject “2002 SalesGoals”, containing the phrase “2002 Sales Goals”, or having attachmentsthat contain the phrase “2002 Sales Goals”.

Search criteria that can be used to identify a person profile caninclude names, screen names, social network profile names, socialnetwork profile URLs, physical addresses, website URLs, e-mailaddresses, e-mail subject lines, file names, or telephone numbers. Forexample, a search using the search string “allan.tate@example.com” canresult in a person profile for a person named “Allan Tate” beingdisplayed. In the example depicted in FIG. 1B, a search for the phonenumber “(612) 555-1243” may have been performed in-order to display theperson profile 130 for the person 132 named “Jen Ertel”.

In some implementations, a user can add information to the personprofile 130. In some implementations, the added information can be usedto identify the person profile 130 when a search is performed. Forexample, the user can add text to the person profile 130 that says“excel fitness triathlon team member”. If the search bar 134 is used tosearch for the keywords “excel fitness” or “triathlon”, the personprofile 130 for the person 132 can be displayed in response to thesearch. In another example, the user can add the text “moved to Denver”to the person profile 130. If the search bar 134 is used to search for“Denver”, the person profile 130 can be displayed in response to thesearch. In another example, the user can add the text “sales rep fromExample Corp.” to the person profile 130. The person profile 130 canthen be displayed in response to a search for the keywords “ExampleCorp.” or “sales rep”.

The person profile 130 can include a title bar 136. The title bar 136can display a name, a nick name, a screen name, a primary e-mailaddress, or other identifying title for the person 132 so that the usercan easily identify who the information in the person profile 130 isrelated to.

The person profile 130 can also include an image 138. The image 138 canbe a picture of the person 132 to help the user more easily identify whothe information in the person profile 130 is related to or to help theuser identify whom he or she is communicating with. For example, if theuser receives an instant message from a person with the screen name“summergirl” the user may not be able to remember who this screen namebelongs to. When the instant message is received, the person profile 130can display information about the person with the screen name“summergirl” including a picture of the person as the image 138. Thiscan help the user to identify whom he or she is communicating with. Theimage 138 can also be an image, icon, or picture associated with theperson 132. The image, icon, or picture can be used to identify theperson 132 as a business contact, co-worker, friend, socialacquaintance, client, or contractor. For example, all of the personprofiles 130 for contacts from a particular company can display a logofor that company. This can help the user to quickly identify whatrelationship he or she has with these particular contacts.

The image 138 can be added to the person profile 130 by the user, or itcan be automatically extracted from a communication with the person 132or from a website or profile page belonging to or about the person 132.For example, if a social network screen name or URL for the person 132is known, an image from the person 132's social network profile page canbe extracted and used as the image 138. In another example, if instantmessage communications with the person 132 include an icon thatidentifies the person 132, this instant message icon can be extractedand used as the image 138.

The person profile 130 can include communication statistics 140 aboutcommunications involving the person 132. These communication statistics140 can include the statistics as previously described for FIG. 1A. Inthe example shown in FIG. 1B, one of the communication statistics 140displayed is a graph 142 showing what times of day communications arereceived from the person 132 and the relative volume received from theperson 132 at each time of day. This can help the user to determinewhen, or how quickly the person 132 will respond to a new communicationfrom the user. For example, if the user lives in the United States andthe person 132 lives in Germany, most of the communications receivedfrom the person 132 may occur between 5:00 am and 10:00 am of the user'slocal time. The graph 142 can easily display this information so thatthe user can determine when to reasonably expect a response to a recentcommunication from the person 132.

Other communication statistics 140 displayed in the person profile 130in FIG. 1B include the total number of communications received from theperson 132, the total number of communications sent to the person 132,and a rank 144. The rank 144 can be the rank of the person 132 comparedto all other persons that the user communicates with. The rank 144 canbe based, for example, on total communications exchanged, total numberof attachments exchanged, total number of communications sent, totalnumber of communications received, length of communications orimportance of communications.

Communication statistics 140 can be displayed as graphs or charts asshown in FIG. 1B, or as text. In some implementations, statistics can bedisplayed in the person profile 130 or in an additional panel or pop-upwindow as “fun facts”. For example, when viewing a person profile forsomeone named “Matt Miller”, the person profile can display a messagethat reads “Matt's birthday is next week”. In another example, a pop-upbubble with the message “Your last communication with Matt was 21 daysago” can be displayed. In another example, a panel can display a messagereading “You send Matt 20 times as many messages as he sends you.”

The person profile 130 can include contact information 146. The contactinformation 146 displayed can include e-mail addresses, telephonenumbers, screen names, social network profile names, social networkprofile URLs, physical addresses, facsimile numbers, or website URLs.The contact information 146 can be collected from a variety of sourcesincluding communications between the person 132 and the user,communications between the user and other persons, e-mail body text,e-mail meta data, e-mail header information, e-mail attachments, websearch engines, people search engines, social networks, e-mail clients,instant messages, personal web pages, telephone directories, scannedbusiness card data, text messages, picture sharing websites, videosharing websites, personal profile pages, telephone communications, orcustomer relationship management systems. For example, when the userreceives an e-mail from a person, that person's e-mail address can beadded to the list of contact information 146 for that person's personprofile 130. In another example, when the user makes a phone call to aperson, that person's telephone number can be added to the list ofcontact information 146 for that person's person profile 130.

In some implementations, contact information 146 can be extracted fromthe body, subject, or meta data of a communication between the user andthe person 132. For example, if the user receives an e-mail from theperson 132 with a signature block at the end that includes a telephonenumber, facsimile number, and screen name for the person 132, thiscontact information can be extracted from the e-mail and added to thelist of contact information 146 for the person 132's person profile 130.In another example, an e-mail from a person can include an address forthe person in the body of the e-mail or in an attachment to the e-mail,this address can be extracted from the e-mail or attachment and added tothe list of contact information 146 for that person's person profile130. In another example, the person 132 can leave a social network postfor the user telling the user the person 132's instant message screenname, this screen name can be added to the list of contact information146 for the person 132's person profile 130.

In some implementations, contact information 146 for the person 132 canbe extracted from a communication from a third party. For example, theuser can receive an e-mail from Bill that contains the text “Mary's cellphone number is 608-555-5353”. This phone number can be extracted fromBill's e-mail and added to the list of contact information 146 forMary's person profile 130. In another example, the user can receive ane-mail with an attachment that contains a list of telephone numbers,e-mail addresses, and office numbers for everyone in the user's office.The telephone number, e-mail address, and office number for each personlisted on the attachment can be extracted and added to the list ofcontact information 146 for the person profiles 130 of each personlisted on the attachment.

Contact information 146 can be extracted from multiple sources,including multiple e-mail clients, multiple web mail systems, multipleinstant message clients, multiple telephone numbers, multiple socialnetworks, or multiple web pages.

In some implementations, contact information 146 can be collected usingsearch engines, telephone directories, or people search engines. Searchcriteria can include e-mail addresses, names, screen names, socialnetwork profile names, phone numbers, personal website URLs, socialnetwork profile URLs, facsimile numbers or physical addresses. Forexample, a search of a telephone directory or people search engine for“Rex Banner” can return a telephone number for Rex Banner. Thistelephone number can then be added to the list of contact information146 for Rex Banner's person profile 130. In another example, a peoplesearch or web search for the e-mail address “alewis@example.com” canreturn a URL for a social network profile for Adam Lewis. The name “AdamLewis” can then be associated with the e-mail address“alewis@example.com” in a person profile 130. In addition, the socialnetwork profile URL and social network screen name for Adam Lewis can beadded to the list of contact information 146 for Adam Lewis's personprofile 130. Furthermore, additional contact information, that is listedon the social network profile for Adam Lewis, such as additional e-mailaddresses, phone numbers, instant message screen names, etc., can beextracted from the social network profile and added to the list ofcontact information 146 for Adam Lewis's person profile 130.

In another example, a web search or person search for a person canreturn a photo or video sharing website profile for the person. The URLor screen name for the person's photo or video sharing website profilecan be added to the list of contact information 146 for the person'sperson profile 130. In addition, the photo or video sharing website maycontain additional contact information for the person that can beextracted and added to the list of contact information 146 for theperson's person profile 130.

In another example, contact information 146 for the person 132 caninclude an e-mail address “jertel@examplecompanyltd.com”. A web searchcan be performed to identify the website associated with the e-mailextension “examplecompanyltd.com”. For example, this e-mail extensioncan be associated with a company called “Example Company ltd.”. Thewebsite for Example Company ltd. can then be searched for informationabout the person 132. The website may include a profile page for theperson 132 that includes contact information that can be added to thelist of contact information 146 for the person 132's person profile 130.In addition, the URL for the profile page can be added to the list ofcontact information 146 for the person 132's person profile 130.

In some implementations, the address for a person can be used to refinethe search results for that person by constricting the results toinformation about persons in a specific geographic area. For example, ifa search is being performed for information on a person with a commonname, such as “Bill Johnson”, and Bill Johnson's address is known, thesearch results can be refined by restricting the results to informationabout person's named Bill Johnson in the city of the known address. Insome implementations, other information about a person can be used torefine search results for that person.

In some implementations, contact information can be extracted from ashared network drive or through a secure connection. In someimplementations, contact information can be automatically shared betweensystems. For example, the person 132 can elect to share contactinformation with all people in a trusted network, such as all peoplewith e-mail extensions from the same company. A computer belonging tothe person 132 can then automatically send contact information to alltrusted people. If the user is in the network of trusted people, theperson 132's contact information will automatically be shared with acomputer or system belonging to the user.

In some implementations, contact information for the person 132 can bemanually added or removed from the person profile 130 by the user. Insome implementations, contact information for the person 132 can bemanually added or removed from the person profile by the person 132 orby a third party. In some implementations, the user can choose whichcontact information for each person is displayed in that person's personprofile.

In some implementations, when a mouse cursor or other selection tool ishovered over/indicates a piece of contact information in the list ofcontact information 146, a pop-up bubble or other indicator can bedisplayed which indicates the source from which the piece of contactinformation was received or extracted. For example, if a phone numberhas been extracted from an e-mail, a hover bubble can be displayed whichshows the e-mail or a portion of the e-mail where the phone number wasextracted with the extracted info highlighted or demarcated in some way.

In some implementations, the user can be allowed to validate contactinformation in the list of contact information 146. Validated contactinformation can be indicated as validated, and un-validated contactinformation can be indicated as un-validated. For example, if a phonenumber for the person 132 is extracted from an e-mail, the user can lookat the phone number to determine if it is indeed the correct phonenumber for the person 132. If the user believes that the phone number iscorrect, the user can choose to validate the phone number. The phonenumber can then be displayed along with an indication that it has beenvalidated, such as with a check mark icon, or text that reads “valid”.If the user is unsure if the phone number is correct, or has not takenthe time to validate the phone number, the phone number can be displayedwith an indication that it has not been validated, such as with aquestion mark icon, or the text “not validated”.

In some implementations, presence of the person 132 can be indicated forsome or all of the contact information on the list of contactinformation 146. For example, an indicator next to a person's instantmessage screen name can indicated if the person is currently logged ontothe related instant message network. In another example, an indicatornext to a person's social network screen name or URL can indicate if theperson is currently logged onto the related social network or if theperson has made a recent update to his or her social network profile. Inanother example, an indicator next to a person's e-mail address canindicate if the person has put up an away message or out of the officemessage.

Other information about the person 132 that can be displayed on theperson profile 130 can include birthday, gender, age, job title,employer, universities attended, family information, or otherbiographical data. Information from Customer Relationship ManagementSystems (CRMs) about or related to the person 132 can also be displayedin the person profile 130. Information about calendar items or scheduledmeetings related to the person 132 or related to a communication canalso be displayed as part of the person profile 130.

In some implementations, information from one or more websites can bedisplayed as a chronological feed of information in the person profile130. This information can be queried on the web via one or more searchengines or from one or more specific websites through establishedassociations between the person 132 and the one or more websites. Forexample, this information can be found by general searching, peoplesearching, or querying websites where it has been established that theperson 132 is generating content or is the subject of content on thewebsite. Search terms for these searches can include e-mail addresses,names, screen names, social network profile names, phone numbers,personal website URLs, social network profile URLs, or physicaladdresses. Information that is extracted from communications with theperson 132 can also be used as search criteria.

The person profile 130 can include a schedule time link 148. The usercan click on/interact with the schedule time link 148 to send acommunication to the person 132 to request a meeting or to send theuser's schedule to the person 132. For example, clicking on the scheduletime link 148 can cause an e-mail to be automatically composed that isaddressed to the person 132 that contains all of the times over thecourse of the next week that the user is available during businesshours. This schedule information can be extracted from a calendarassociated with an e-mail client, web mail account, social networkaccount, instant messaging program, telephone, personal digitalassistant (PDA), or website belonging to the user or associated with theuser. In addition, schedule information can be extracted from a calendarstored on a computer, network drive, or other data storage locationbelonging to or associated with the user. In one implementation,clicking on the schedule time link 148 can cause a communication to besent to the person 132 requesting schedule information from the person132.

The person profile 130 can also include one or more initiatecommunication links 150. In the example shown in FIG. 1B, the initiatecommunication link 150 displayed will cause an e-mail addressed to theperson 132 to be automatically generated when it is clicked on. Otherforms of communication that can be initiated using an initiatecommunication link 150 include telephone calls, instant messages, textmessages, social network messages, social network posts, message boardposts, facsimiles, or voice over IP communications. For example, theperson profile 130 can include a “call Jen” link that can cause theuser's cell phone to dial Jen's phone number when clicked on. In anotherexample, the person profile 130 can include an “instant message” linkthat when clicked on, can cause an instant message program toautomatically open and generate an instant message addressed to a screenname of the person 132.

The person profile 130 can include a contact network 152. The contactnetwork 152 can include a list of contacts associated with the person132. The contact network 152 can be populated using the methodspreviously described in the description of FIG. 1A. The person profile130 can also display the total number of contacts associated with theperson 132 in the contact network 152. In the example shown in FIG. 1B,the contact network 152 displayed in the person profile 130 indicatesthat there are 50 contacts in Jen's contact network 152.

Clicking on, selecting, or interacting with one or more contacts fromthe contact network 152 can cause one or more actions to occur. In oneimplementation, selecting a contact from the contact network 152 cancause a person profile for that contact to be displayed. In someimplementations, selecting one or more contacts from the contact network152 can cause a communication directed to the selected contacts to beinitiated. For example, selecting three contacts from the contactnetwork 152 can cause an e-mail addressed to the three contacts to begenerated. In another example, clicking on three contacts from thecontact network 152 can cause the user's telephone to initiate aconference call with the selected contacts. In some implementations,selecting one or more contacts from the contact list can cause acommunication directed to the selected contacts and the person 132 to begenerated.

In some implementations, selecting a contact from the contact network152 can cause the most recent communication or conversation threadbetween the user and the selected contact to be displayed. In someimplementations, selecting a contact from the contact network 152 cancause the most recent communication or conversation thread involving thecontact, the person 132, and the user to be displayed. In someimplementations, moving a mouse cursor over a contact in the contactnetwork 152 can cause information about the contact to be displayed. Forexample, moving a cursor over a contact can cause a small pop-up bubbleto appear that displays the contact's phone number, e-mail address, orother contact information. In some implementations, contacts can bemanually added or removed from the contact network 152 by the user.

The person profile 130 can include a conversation list 154 that includesa list of recent communications or conversation threads involving theuser and the person 132 as previously described in the description ofFIG. 1A. The conversation list 154 can display the total number ofcommunications or conversation threads involving the user and the person132. In the example shown in FIG. 1B, the conversation list 154indicates that 2510 conversation threads have occurred that involved theuser and the person 132.

Clicking on or selecting a conversation thread or communication in theconversation list 154 can cause a more detailed summary of theconversation thread or communication to be displayed. For example,selecting a conversation thread can cause a summary of one or morecommunications in the conversation thread to be displayed. In anotherexample, selecting a communication in the conversation list 154 cancause a summary of the communication to be displayed. In someimplementations, selecting a communication in the conversation list 154can cause the communication to be displayed. For example, selecting ane-mail from the conversation list 154 can cause the e-mail to bedisplayed.

In some implementations, selecting a conversation thread can cause themost recent communication to be received or the most recentcommunication to be sent in that conversation thread to be displayed. Insome implementations, selecting a conversation thread in theconversation list 154 can cause the first communication in thatconversation thread to be displayed. In some implementations, selectinga conversation thread from the conversation list 154 can cause acommunication addressed to all of the participants of the conversationthread to be generated. For example, selecting an e-mail conversationthread can cause an e-mail to be automatically generated that isaddressed to all of the e-mail addresses involved with the selectedconversation thread.

In some implementations, communications or conversation threads can bemanually added or removed from the conversations list 154 by the user.

The person profile 130 can include a files exchanged list 156. The filesexchanged list 156 can contain a list of files exchanged between theuser and the person 132 as previously described in the description ofFIG. 1A. For each file listed in the files exchanged list 156, theperson profile 130 can display a file name, a file title, an icon, thetime or date when the file was received, the amount of time that haselapsed since the file was received, the subject of the communication towhich the file was attached, or other information about the file. Iconsdisplayed next to a file name or file title can indicate what type ofdocument the file is. In the example depicted, a file 158 with the filename “sturgeon 001.jpg” is displayed. An icon next to the file name forthe file 158 indicates that the file 158 is a picture file. A date nextto the file name indicates that the file 158 was received on April 23.

Clicking on or selecting a file in the files exchanged list 156 cancause the file to open. In some implementations, selecting a file cancause the communication to which the file was attached to be displayed.In some implementations, selecting a file can cause a list of files withthe same file name to be displayed. This allows the different versionsof a document that has undergone several rounds of revisions to bereviewed and compared to each other. This list of files can include atime and date stamp for each version of the file so that the most recentrevision can be easily identified. In some implementations, selecting afile can cause a summary of the file to be generated and displayed. Forexample, hovering a cursor over a file in the files exchanged list 156can cause an information bubble containing the title and first few linesof the file to be displayed. In some implementations, files can becopied from the files exchanged list 156 to other locations. In someimplementations, files can be manually added or removed from the filesexchanged list by the user.

The person profile 130 can include one or more menu buttons 160. Themenu buttons can be used to change personal settings or preferences,change viewing preferences, or access menus or help information. Theperson profile 130 can also include a minimize button 162 that can causethe person profile 130 to minimize or close. When the minimize button162 is clicked or selected, a minimized version of the person profile130 that takes up less space in a viewing window can be displayed. Theminimized version of the person profile 130 can include a summary ofsome or all of the information displayed by the person profile 130.

FIG. 1C shows a viewing panel 164. The viewing panel 164 can display aperson profile such as the person profile 130 of FIG. 1B. The viewingpanel 164 can also display information about communications,communication attachments, files, or conversation threads. In theexample shown in FIG. 1C the viewing panel 164 displays informationabout a conversation thread 166. The information about the conversationthread 166 can be displayed in response to a user clicking on aconversation thread 166 in a conversation list, such as the conversationlist 154 from FIG. 1B. In some implementations, the conversation thread166 can be displayed in response to the user viewing, reading,selecting, opening, writing, initiating, or receiving a communicationthat is part of the currently displayed conversation thread 166. Forexample, the user can select an e-mail such as the e-mail 110 from FIG.1A. This can cause a communication profile containing information aboutthe conversation thread 166 that includes the selected e-mail to bedisplayed. The communication profile can include information about theselected e-mail as well as other e-mails and communications involved inthe same conversation thread 166 as the selected e-mail.

In some implementations, the conversation thread 166 can be displayed inresponse to a search performed by the user. For example, the user canuse a search bar 168 to search for a conversation thread 166 based onthe subject of the conversation thread 166, participants in theconversation thread 166, files attached to communications in theconversation thread 166, or key words or terms in the communications ofthe conversation thread 166. In some implementations, the user can addinformation related to the conversation thread 166 to the viewing panel164. The user can then use the search bar 168 to search for theconversation thread 166 based on the added information. For example, theuser can associate text with the conversation thread 166 that says“client wants next shipment sent to Boston, Mass.”. If the search bar168 is used to perform a search for the keyword “Boston”, the viewingpanel 164 can display information about the conversation thread 166 inresponse to the search. In another example, the user can associate thetext “Matt Johnson may be interested in this” with the conversationthread 166. If a search is performed for the keywords “Matt Johnson”,the viewing panel 164 can display information about the conversationthread 166 in response to the search.

The viewing panel 164 can include one or more navigation buttons 170.The navigation buttons 170 can include a profile view navigation button172. The profile view navigation button 172 can be used to return theviewing panel 164 to a profile view so that the viewing panel 164displays information about the sender or recipient of a currentlyselected communication, or another person as indicated by the user. Thenavigation buttons 170 can also include a back button 174. The backbutton 174 can be used to display a person profile, conversation thread,or other information that was previously displayed in the viewing panel164. For example, if the user was previously viewing a person profilefor a person named Mark Wagner, clicking on the back button 174 cancause the viewing panel 164 to display the person profile for MarkWagner. In another example, if the user was previously viewinginformation about an e-mail attachment, clicking on the back button 174can cause the viewing panel 164 to display the previously viewed e-mailattachment information.

The navigation buttons 170 can also display a navigation history thathas lead to the current information being displayed in the viewing panel164. In the example shown in FIG. 1C, the navigation buttons 170indicate that the user first viewed a person profile for Jen Ertel. Theuser then viewed a person profile for Jerri Clark Wagner. The user mayhave opened the person profile for Jerri Clark Wagner by clicking on thename Jerri Clark Wagner in a contact network or list of contacts on JenErtel's person profile, or by performing a search for Jerri ClarkWagner, or other information associated with Jerri Clark Wagner. Thenavigation buttons 170 indicate that the user then viewed a personprofile for Mark Wagner. The user may have caused the currentconversation thread 166 to be displayed by clicking on a conversationthread in a conversation list similar to the conversation list 124 fromFIG. 1A. In some implementations, clicking on or selecting any of thebuttons in the navigation history can cause the viewing panel 164 todisplay the person profile, conversation thread, communication,communication attachment, or other information associated with theselected navigation button 170.

The viewing panel 164 can include a title bar 176. The title bar 176 caninclude the type of information being displayed in the viewing panel,the subject, and other key information. When the information beingdisplayed in the viewing panel 164 is a conversation thread 166, thetitle bar 176 can indicate that a conversation is being viewed, thetitle or subject line of the conversation thread, the number ofcommunications involved in the conversation thread, the types ofcommunications involved in the conversation thread, or the number ofpeople involved in the conversation thread. In the example shown, thetitle bar 176 indicates that a conversation is being viewed, that thesubject line of the communications in the conversation thread 166 is“dinner?”, that there are 8 people involved in conversation thread 166,that 18 communications are included in the conversation thread 166, andthat all 18 communications are e-mails.

The viewing panel 164 can include a summary of some or all of thecommunications 178 that make up the conversation thread 166. Informationdisplayed as part of the summary for each communication 178 can includethe sender of the communication 178, the recipients of the communication178, the time or day that the communication 178 was sent or received,attachments to the communication 178, the first few lines or sentencesof the communication 178, the importance of the communication 178, orthe number of recipients of the communication 178. For example, ane-mail summary 180 indicates that the user sent an e-mail in response toan e-mail from Jerri 1 week ago and that 5 additional recipients werealso listed on the e-mail. The e-mail summary 180 also displays thefirst lines of the e-mail sent to Jerri.

In some implementations, the communications 178 that make up theconversation thread 166 can be of various communication types. Forexample, a conversation thread can include a combination of e-mails,instant messages, and social network profile comments. In anotherexample, a conversation thread can include a combination of phoneconversation transcripts, text messages, and blog posts.

In some implementations, clicking on or selecting a communicationsummary in the conversation thread 166 can cause the relatedcommunication to be displayed. For example, clicking on the e-mailsummary 180 can cause the e-mail sent from the user to Jerri to bedisplayed. In another example, selecting a communication summary in theconversation thread 166 can cause a person profile for a sender or oneor more recipients of the related communication to be displayed. Inanother example, selecting a communication summary in the conversationthread 166 can cause one or more attachments or a list of attachments tothe related communication to be displayed. In some implementations,selecting a communication summary in the conversation thread 166 cancause a communication addressed to the sender or one or more recipientsof the related communication to be automatically generated. In someimplementations, selecting a communication summary in the conversationthread 166 can cause a more detailed summary for the relatedcommunication to be displayed. In some implementations, selecting acommunication summary in the conversation thread 166 can cause acommunication profile containing information about the communication tobe displayed.

The viewing panel 164 can include a detail adjustment control 182. thedetail adjustment control 182 can be used to modify the amount of detailthat is displayed in each communication summary in the conversation list166. In one implementation, adjusting the detail adjustment control 182can increase or decrease the number of words or lines of a body of acommunication that are displayed in each communication summary. In someimplementations, adjusting the detail adjustment control 182 canincrease or decrease the amount of information that is displayed foreach communication summary. For example, the detail adjustment controlcan be changed to display an e-mail address and phone number for eachsender or recipient of each communication 178 in the correspondingcommunication summary. In another example, the detail adjustment control182 can be used to control what information is used to identify sendersor recipients of communications 178 in each communication summary.Information used to identify senders or recipients can include names,nick names, screen names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, socialnetwork profile names, or company names.

In some implementations in which some or all of the communications thatmake up a conversation thread 166 are telephone calls or voice over IPcommunications, audio recordings of some or all of the telephone callsor voice over IP communications can be displayed in the conversationthread 166. Clicking on or selecting a telephone call or voice over IPcommunication in the conversation thread 166 can cause an audiorecording of the communication to play. In some implementations,automatically or manually created transcripts of telephone calls orvoice over IP communications that make up part or all of a conversationthread 166 can be displayed. In some implementations, a summary of atranscript of the audio communication can be displayed as part of acommunication summary in the conversation thread 166. Clicking on orselecting a communication summary of a telephone call or voice over IPcommunication for which a transcript exists can cause the fulltranscript of the audio communication to be displayed, or an audio fileof the audio communication to play.

The viewing panel 164 can include a conversation participants list 184.The conversation participants list 184 can be a list of senders andrecipients of the communications 178 that make up the conversationthread 166. Information about each participant in the conversationthread 166 can be displayed, including name, contact information, numberof communications initiated in the displayed conversation thread 166,and other relevant information. The conversation participants list 184can also indicate the total number of participants involved in theconversation thread 166.

In some implementations, clicking on or selecting a person listed in theconversation participants list 184 can cause a person profile for theselected person to be displayed. In some implementations, selecting aperson from the conversation participants list 184 can automaticallygenerate a communication addressed to the selected person. In someimplementations, selecting a person from the conversation participantslist 184 can cause all communications or summaries of communicationsfrom the current conversation thread 166 that were initiated by theselected person to be displayed.

The viewing panel 164 can include a files exchanged list 186. The filesexchanged list 186 can display a list of files that have been exchangedin the current conversation thread 166. For example, the files exchangedlist 186 can list all of the files that have been attached tocommunications 178 in the conversation thread 166. Clicking on orselecting a file from the files exchanged list 186 can cause theselected file to open. In some implementations, selecting a file fromthe files exchanged list 186 can cause one or more communications towhich the file was attached to be displayed. In some implementations,selecting a file from the files exchanged list 186 can cause one or morecommunication summaries for communications to which the file wasattached to be displayed.

In some implementations, the viewing panel 164 can include webinformation derived from links in one or more of the communications 178in the conversation thread 166. For example, one of the communications178 can contain a link to a website for a restaurant. Information aboutthe restaurant, such as hours of operation, address, daily specials, ortype of food can be displayed in the viewing panel 164. In anotherexample, a communication 178 in the conversation thread 166 can containa link to a document that contains information about an upcomingmeeting. Information about the meeting, such as meeting time, location,or agenda items can be displayed in the viewing panel 164. In anotherexample, one of the communications 178 can contain a link to a websitefor a concert. Information about the concert, such as date, time,location, and artists performing, can be displayed in the viewing panel164.

In some implementations, the viewing panel 164 can include informationderived from a file attached to one or more of the communications 178 inthe conversation thread 166. For example, if a file containinginformation about a birthday party is attached to one of thecommunications, information about the birthday party, such as name ofthe person who's birthday it is, date, time and location can bedisplayed in the viewing panel 164.

FIG. 1D shows a communication profile 188 for a communication titled“RE: dinner?”. The communication profile 188 can contain informationabout and relating to the communication. In some implementations, thecommunication can be an e-mail, an instant message, a phone call, a textmessage, an internet message board post, a social network message orcomment, or a voice over IP communication.

In some implementations, the communication profile 188 can be displayedin response to a user viewing, reading, selecting, opening, or writing,initiating, or receiving a communication. For example, the user canselect an e-mail such as the e-mail 110 from FIG. 1A. This can cause acommunication profile 188 containing information about the selectede-mail to be displayed. In another example, the user can view an instantmessage which can cause a communication profile 188 for the instantmessage to be displayed.

In some implementations, the communication profile 188 can be displayedin response to the user selecting a communication in a conversationthread similar to the conversation thread 166 in FIG. 1C. For example,selecting the e-mail summary 180 in the conversation thread 166 cancause a communication profile 188 for the selected e-mail to bedisplayed.

In some implementations, the communication profile 188 can be displayedin response to a search performed by the user. For example, the user canuse a search bar 189 to search for a communication based on the subjectof the communication, one or more senders or recipients of thecommunication, files attached to the communication, or key words orterms in the communication or attachments to the communication. In someimplementations, the user can add information to the communicationprofile 188. The user can use the search bar 189 to search for thecommunication profile 188 based on the added information. For example,the user can add text to the communication profile 188 that says “Bringthis to Mary Ericson's attention”. If the search bar 189 is used toperform a search for the keywords “Mary Ericson”, the communicationprofile 188 can be displayed in response to the search. In anotherexample, the user can add the text “possible replacement forExampleProduct1” to the communication profile 188. If a search isperformed for the keyword “ExampleProduct1”, the communication profile188 can be displayed in response to the search.

The communication profile 188 can include a list of participants 190associated with the communication. In the example shown in FIG. 1D, thelist of participants 190 indicates that the communication was sent byRick Bisenius to Jerri Clark Wagner and that Jen Ertel and Mark Wagnerwere copied on the communication. In some implementations, clicking onor selecting one of the participants from the list of participants cancause a person profile, such as the person profile 130 shown in FIG. 1B,to be displayed. In some implementations, selecting one or more of theparticipants from the list of participants 190 can cause a communicationaddressed to the selected participants to be automatically generated. Insome implementations, the participants in the list of participants canbe identified by names, nick names, screen names, social network profilenames, social network profile URLs, physical addresses, website URLs,e-mail addresses, or telephone numbers.

The communication profile 188 can include a date and time indicator 192.The date and time indicator can display the date and/or time that thecommunication was sent or received. The communication profile 188 caninclude a location indicator 194 that displays the location of thecommunication. For example, the location indicator 194 can display aname of a folder within an e-mail client where the communication islocated. The example depicted in FIG. 1D indicates that thecommunication is located in a Sent Items folder. In another example, thelocation indicator 194 can indicate a memory location on a hard drivewhere the communication is stored. In some implementations, selectingthe location indicator 194 can open he indicated folder or memorylocation.

The communication profile 188 can include a title bar 196 which displaysthe title or subject of the communication as well as other identifyinginformation about the communication. In the example depicted in FIG. 1D,the title bar 196 indicates that the communication is an e-mail and thatthe subject of the communication is “RE: dinner?”. The communicationprofile 188 can include text display 198 which displays the body of thecommunication. In the example depicted in FIG. 1D, the text display 198displays the body of an e-mail. In another example, the text display 198can display the body of a blog post. In another example, the textdisplay 198 can display a written transcript of an audio communication,such as a phone call or voice message. In some implementations, the textdisplay 198 can display a summary of the communication instead of theentire communication.

In some implementations, the communication profile 188 can include alist of attachments to the communication. In some implementations,selecting one of the attachments can cause the attachment to open. Insome implementations, selecting one of the attachments can cause acommunication with the attachment attached to be generated.

In some implementations, the communication profile 188 can include webinformation derived from links in the communication or attachments tothe communication. For example, a communication can contain a link to adocument that contains information about an upcoming meeting.Information about the meeting, such as meeting time, location, or agendaitems can be displayed in the communication profile 188. In anotherexample, an attachment to a communication can contain a link to awebsite for a company picnic. Information about the picnic, such asdate, time, location, and activities, can be displayed in thecommunication profile 188.

In some implementations, the communication profile can includeinformation derived from a file attached to the communication. Forexample, if a file containing information about a birthday party isattached to the communication, information about the birthday party,such as name of the person who's birthday it is, date, time and locationcan be displayed in the communication profile 188.

FIG. 2A shows a person profile 200 capable of accepting and displayingperson notes. The person profile 200 can display information about aperson 202 named Adam Smith. The information displayed can includecontact information, bibliographic information, contact networkinformation, conversation thread information, communication information,files exchanged information and notes.

The person profile 200 includes an add note button 204. The add notebutton 204 can be used to add a note to the person profile 200. The notecan be a person note which contains information about or relating to theperson 202. In some implementations, the note can be a communicationnote which contains information about or relating to a communication orconversation thread associated with the person profile 200. In someimplementations, the note can be a file note which contains informationabout or relating to a file that has been exchanged with the person 202.

The note can take the form of text, graphics, audio, video, or pictures.For example, the note can be text that reads “Met Adam at the alumnisoftball game”. In another example, the note can be text related to acommunication from the person 202 that reads “get in touch with Adam'srealtor”. In another example, the note can be text related to a filefrom the person 202 that reads “edit Board Meeting presentation andre-send”.

In another example, the note can be a logo for the University ofWisconsin to indicate that the person 202 attended the University ofWisconsin. In another example, the note can be an audio recording ofinformation about the person 202. In another example, the note can be anaudio recording of a song or other audio that a user associates with theperson 202. For example, the note can be audio of the person 202'sfavorite song or school fight song. In another example, the note can bevideo of the person 202. In another example, the note can be video of aclip from the person 202's favorite television show. In another example,the note can be a video clip that reminds a user of the person 202. Inanother example, the note can be one or more pictures of the person 202.In another example, the note can be one or more pictures associated withthe person 202.

When the add note button 204 is selected, a note entry field 206 can bedisplayed. In the example depicted, the note entry field 206 is a pop-upwindow that appears over the person profile 206. In someimplementations, the note entry field 206 can be an additional panel inthe person profile 200. In some implementations, the note entry field206 can be an additional panel in an e-mail client, web browser, instantmessage client, or other communication client that includes the personprofile 200.

The note can be entered into the note entry field 206. If the note istext, a user can type the text into the note entry field 206 or copy andpaste the text into the note entry field 206. In some implementations,the user can drag a text file or other document over the note entryfield 206. The text contained in the text file or document file can thenbe added to the person profile as a note. In some implementations, theamount of text that can be added into the note entry field 206 can berestricted to a certain character limit.

In some implementations, graphics, video, audio or pictures can be addedto the person profile 200 by dragging a file containing the graphic,video, audio or picture over the note entry field 206. For example, anmp3 file containing audio that a user wishes to associate with theperson profile 200 can be dragged over the note entry field 206. Inanother example, a user can associate a video clip with the personprofile 200 by dragging a file with a “.mov” extension over the noteentry field 206. In another example, the user can add a logo to theperson profile 200 by dragging a file with a “.jpg” extension over thenote entry field 206.

In some implementations, graphics or pictures can be added to the personprofile 200 by dragging the graphics or pictures from a document, file,communication client or web browser into the note entry field 206. Forexample, a picture on a web site can be selected with a mouse cursor anddragged into the note entry field 206. In another example, a graphicembedded in an e-mail can be selected and dragged into the note entryfield 206. In some implementations, video, audio and text can be addedto the person profile 200 by selecting and dragging. For example, avideo posted on YouTube can be selected using a mouse cursor and draggedinto the note entry field 206 in order to add the video to the personprofile 200. In another example, several lines of text in a text filecan be selected and dragged over the note entry field 206 in order toadd the selected text to the person profile 200.

In some implementations, the note can contain a plurality of mediaformats. For example, a note containing both text and video can be addedto the person profile 200 by typing text into the note entry field 206and then dragging a video file into the note entry field 206. In anotherexample, a note containing both audio and pictures can be added to theperson profile 200 by dragging an audio file into the note entry field206 and then dragging several pictures from a webpage into the noteentry field 206.

After a note has been entered into the note entry field 206, a user canselect a button 208 to add the note to the person profile 200. The notecan then be displayed as part of the person profile 200. In someimplementations, a link indicating that there are one or more notes forthe person profile 200 can be displayed. When the link is selected oneor more notes can be displayed. If the user has entered a note into thenote entry field 206 and then has decided to not associate the note withthe person profile 200, the user can select a button 210 to cancel thenote. In some implementations, when the button 208 or the button 210 isselected, the note entry field 206 will disappear. In someimplementations, when the button 208 or the button 210 is selected, thenote entry field 206 will be cleared so that the user can enter a newnote into the note entry field 206.

In some implementations, notes can act as tags for a profile, such asthe person profile 200, allowing for easy search and retrieval ofprofiles using the system. For example, a person profile can be taggedwith a note that contains the text “head of statistics project”. Theperson profile can then be associated with the term “statisticsproject”. The person profile can then be displayed when a search isperformed for “statistics project” or when a communication related tothe statistics project is selected or viewed. In another example, aperson profile can be tagged with a note that contains the text “ExampleCompany sales rep”. The person profile can then be associated with thecompany name “Example Company”. The person profile can then be displayedwhen a search is performed for “Example Company” or when a communicationrelated to Example Company is viewed or selected, or when acommunication from a different employee of Example Company is viewed orselected. In another example, a conversation thread profile can betagged with a note that contains the text “2002 Profits Briefing.” Theconversation thread profile can then be associated with the terms “2002Profits”, “Profits” or “Profits Briefing”. The conversation threadprofile can then be displayed when a search is performed for “2002Profits”, “Profits”, or “Profits Briefing”.

In some implementations, notes can be entered by someone other than auser of a system that is displaying the person profile 200. For example,the person 202 can use a remote note entry interface to enter notesabout himself into the person profile 200 that is displayed on a systembeing used by the user. In another example, a third person separate fromthe user and the person 202 can enter notes into the person profile 200by sending a communication containing one or more notes relating to theperson 202 or a communication with an attachment containing one or morenotes relating to the person 202.

FIG. 2B shows a person profile 250 for a person 252 that includes personnotes 254. The person notes 254 can be added to the person profile by auser using a note entry field, such as the note entry field 206 fromFIG. 2A. In the example depicted, the person notes 254 are three textnotes with text relating to the person 252. A first person note 256indicates that a user viewing the person profile 250 needs to call theperson 252. A second person note 258 indicates that the user viewing theperson profile 250 was introduced to the person 252 by Matt. A thirdperson note 260 indicates that the user viewing the person profile 250needs to pass the person 252's information to Mike.

In addition to text, the person notes 254 can take the form of graphics,audio, video, or pictures. For example, one of the person notes 254 canbe a corporate logo indicating the company that the person 252 worksfor. In another example, one of the person notes can be audio of aconversation with the person 252 or a conversation about the person 252.In some implementations, the person notes 254 will only display asummary of the person note. The person note 254 can be selected todisplay the full person note. For example, a person note can display thefirst few words of a note. When the person note is selected, the entiretext of the note can be displayed. In another example, a person note candisplay a title of an audio file and an icon indicating that the note isan audio file. When the person note is selected, the audio can startplaying.

The person profile 250 can include an add note button 262 for addingadditional person notes to the person profile 250. In someimplementations, the person profile 250 may only display some of theperson notes 254 associated with the person profile 250. The personprofile 250 can include a more notes link 264. When the more notes link264 is selected, additional person notes 254 that are not currentlydisplayed in the person profile 250 can be displayed. In someimplementations, the person profile 250 can include a hide person noteslink that will hide the person notes 254 when selected.

Each person note 254 can have one or more control buttons 266. Thecontrol buttons 266 can be used to control features of the person note254. For example, selecting the control button 266 can cause theassociated person note 254 to be expanded to display a full person noteif the person note 254 is a summary of a full person note. In someimplementations, selecting the control button 266 can cause theassociated person note 254 to be deleted from the person profile 250. Insome implementations, selecting the control button 266 can cause theassociated person note 254 to be hidden. In some implementations,selecting the control button 266 can cause other notes related to theassociated person note 254 to be displayed. In some implementations,selecting the control button 266 can cause a note entry field, such asthe note entry field 206 of FIG. 2A, to be displayed. A note enteredinto the note entry field can be associated with the person note 254associated with the selected control button 266. In someimplementations, selecting the control button 266 can allow a user toedit the associated person note 254

In some implementations, a user can use a search bar 268 to search forthe person profile 250 based on text or other features of the personnotes 254. In the example shown, the person profile 250 can be displayedin response to a search for the search strings “Matt”, “introduced byMatt”, “need to call” or “Adam's info”. For example, since the personnote 256 indicates that the user needs to call matt, a system displayingthe person profile 250 can determine that the person 252 is someone thatthe user needs to call. Therefore a search for the search string “needto call” can return the person profile 250.

In another example, one of the person notes 254 may include a videotitled “Jim Anderson's Cook Out”. A search for the search strings “JimAnderson” or “Cook Out” can cause the person profile 250 to bedisplayed. In another example, one of the person notes 254 may containthe text “graduated from Tennessee”. A search for the search string“University of Tennessee” can cause the person profile 250 to bedisplayed. In another example, one of the person notes 254 may containthe text “Sarah Smith's husband”. A search for the search string “SarahSmith” can cause the person profile 250 to be displayed.

In some implementations, notes can be hidden. Notes can be hidden forsecurity reasons, or aesthetic reasons. For example, a note thatcontains sensitive information about a new product or development at acompany can be hidden so that persons who may happen to view a personprofile to which the note is associated can not view the sensitiveinformation. In another example, a user may add person notes to a personprofile to make the person profile easier to find when performing asearch. For example, the user may enter a string of keywords associatedwith the person profile as a note. The user may not want the notes to bedisplayed in the person profile so that more screen space is availablefor other information in the person profile to be displayed. The usercan set the person notes to hidden so that they are not displayed aspart of the person profile, but the notes can still be used to identifythe person profile when a search is performed. In some implementationsnotes marked as hidden can be displayed when an option to enable theviewing of hidden notes is selected. In some implementations, notesmarked as hidden can require password authorization in order for thenotes to be displayed.

In some implementations, notes can be added to conversation profiles.For example, the viewing panel 164 from FIG. 1C which containsinformation about the conversation thread 166 can allow a user to addone or more notes. In some implementations, notes can be added tocommunication profiles, such as the communication profile 188 from FIG.1D. In some implementations, notes can be added to attachment profileswhich contain information about an attachment to a communication.

FIG. 3 shows an example communication delivery system 300. In the system300, a first device (e.g., computer 302) belonging to a first user cantransmit a communication to a second device (e.g., computer 304)belonging to a second user over a computer network 306. The computernetwork 306 can be the Internet, an intranet, a LAN system or acompany's internal computer network. In some implementations, thecomputer 302 and the computer 304 can be desktop computers, laptopcomputers, cell phones, web enabled televisions, or personal digitalassistants. The communication transmitted from the computer 302 to thecomputer 304 can be an e-mail, phone call, instant message, textmessage, social network message or comment, message board post, or voiceover IP communication.

The computer 304 can extract data from the communication about the firstuser. This data can be used to make a person profile similar to theperson profile 130 shown in FIG. 1B. Data extracted from othercommunications with the first user can also be used to create a personprofile for the first user. Data that is extracted from communicationswith the first user can be used to query websites, search engines,person search directories and other sources of information foradditional information about the first user that can be used to create aperson profile. Information from communications that can be used assearch criteria include names, screen names, social network profilenames, social network profile URLs, physical addresses, website URLs,e-mail addresses, or telephone numbers. Information that is collected asa result of these queries can be used in future searches to identifyadditional information that can be used to create a person profile.

For example, the computer 304 can receive an e-mail sent by the firstuser from the computer 302. The computer 304 can perform a search usinga search engine 308 with the first user's e-mail address as the searchcriteria. The search engine 308 can return a search result that includesthe first user's phone number. This phone number can be displayed aspart of a person profile for the first user. The search engine 308 canalso return the URL for or link to a personal website 310 belonging tothe first user. The personal website 310 may contain additionalinformation about the first user that can be used to create a personprofile, such as additional contact information or biographicalinformation.

In another example, the e-mail address belonging to the first user mayinclude an extension for a company. The computer 304 can perform asearch using the search engine 308 with the e-mail extension as thesearch criteria. A result returned by the search can be a companywebsite. The company website can be searched to reveal a profile page312 for the first user on the company website. The profile page 312 maycontain additional information about the first user that can be used tocreate a person profile, such as additional contact information orbiographical information.

In another example, the computer 304 can perform a search using a personsearch directory 314 with the first user's name or other contactinformation as the search criteria. The person search directory 314 canreturn search results with additional contact information and otherinformation that can be used to create a person profile for the firstuser.

In another example, the computer 304 can receive an e-mail sent by thefirst user from the computer 302. The e-mail can contain a socialnetwork profile name for the first user. The computer 304 can extractthis social network profile name from the e-mail and use it to access asocial network webpage 316. The social network webpage 316 can containadditional contact information and other information that can beextracted and used to create a person profile for the first user. Thesocial network webpage 316 can also contain additional contacts that canbe associated with the first user in a person profile. For example,persons on the friends list of the social network webpage 316, orpersons who have posted comments or messages on the social networkwebpage 316 can be listed as contacts in a contact network for the firstuser.

In another example, a search performed using the search engine 308 canreturn a URL or link for a photo or video sharing website 318 on whichthe first user has a profile. Additional contact information orbiographical information that can be extracted and used to create aperson profile for the first user. For example, a profile belonging tothe first user on a video sharing website may include an instant messagescreen name for the first user. This screen name can be extracted anddisplayed as part of a person profile for the first user.

In some implementations, the communication data, contact information,bibliographic information and other data collected by the computer 304can be stored locally on a hard drive or other media storage device ofthe computer 304. In some implementations, the data collected by thecomputer 304 is stored in a location external to an e-mail client,instant message client, or other communication client used in making thecommunications. For example, a person profile for the first user caninclude information about e-mails exchanged between the first user andthe second user, the person profile for the first user is stored in amemory location on the computer 304 that is separate from a memorylocation used by an e-mail client used to send and receive the e-mailsexchanged between the first user and the second user. In anotherexample, data related to the contents of communications in aconversation thread can be stored in a memory location on the computer304 that is separate from a memory location used by an e-mail clientthat was used to send and receive the communications in the conversationthread.

In some implementations, the communication data, contact information,bibliographic information and other data collected by the computer 304can be stored in a remote database 320 that is external to the computer304. In some implementations, the computer 304 can connect to the remotedatabase 320 via the computer network 306 as shown in FIG. 3. In someimplementations, the computer 304 can connect to the remote database 320directly or via a separate computer network. The data stored in theremote database 320 can be separate from data stored by an e-mailclient, instant message client, or other communication client. Forexample, an e-mail client running on the computer 304 can store datalocally on the computer 304 while data collected as part of a personprofile, including communication data collected from the e-mail client,is stored in the remote database 320.

The computer 304 can monitor the behavior of the second user todetermine if the second user has made an implicit request to view aperson profile. For example, the second user can view the social networkpage 316 for the first user. The computer 304 can detect that the seconduser is viewing the social network page 316 associated with the firstuser and present a person profile for the first user. In anotherexample, the second user can view a social network profile for a thirdperson which can cause the computer 304 to present a person profile forthe third person.

In another example, the second user can view the personal website 310 ofthe first user. The computer 304 can detect that the second user isviewing the personal website 310 associated with the first user andpresent a person profile for the first user. In another example, thesecond user can view the profile page 312 for the first user on thefirst user's company website. The computer 304 can detect that thesecond user is viewing the profile page 312 associated with the firstuser and present a person profile for the first user.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an example process 400 for generating anddisplaying a person profile which includes a person note. The process400 can, for example, be implemented in a system such as the system 100of FIG. 1A. In another example, the process 400 can be implemented in asystem such as the communication delivery system 300 of FIG. 3.

Stage 402 collects historical communication data and personal data. Forexample, communications such as e-mails, instant messages, phone calls,text messages, internet message board postings, social network messagesor comments, or voice over IP communications can be collected.Historical communication data and personal data can also be collectedfrom web search engines, people search engines, social networks, e-mailclients, personal web pages, telephone directories, scanned businesscard data, picture sharing websites, video sharing websites, personalprofile pages, travel websites, on-line retailers, or customerrelationship management systems.

The collected historical communication data and personal data caninclude contact information, biographical information, communicationtext, communication summaries, physical location information, mappinginformation, attachments to communications, weather information, travelinformation, and retail information.

Stage 404 generates a person profile based on a portion of the collectedhistorical communication data and personal data. The person profile caninclude information about a person, such as contact information,biographical information, text or summaries of communications exchangedwith the person, a list of conversation threads involving the person, acontact network for the person, physical location information, mappinginformation, attachments to communications with the person, weatherinformation associated with a location of the person, or travelinformation associated with the person.

Stage 406 receives user input. For example, a user can enter textcontaining information or a note about a person into that person'sperson profile using a note entry field, such as the note entry field206 from FIG. 2A. In another example, a user can associate a video witha person profile for a person. The video can be a video of the person,or a video of a clip from the person's favorite movie. In anotherexample, a user can associate one or more pictures with a personprofile.

Stage 408 incorporates the user input into the person profile. Forexample, text entered by a user into a note entry field, such as thenote entry field 206 from FIG. 2A, can be displayed as part of a personprofile. In another example, video or audio associated with a personprofile can automatically start playing when the person profile ispresented. In another example, an icon, text, or other indicator canindicate that audio or video has been associated with a person profile.When the indicator is selected, the associated audio or video can startplaying in response to the selection. In another example, picturesassociated with a person profile can be incorporated as part of theperson profile. In another example, thumbnails or previews of picturesassociated with a person profile can be incorporated as part of theperson profile.

Stage 410 monitors user behavior. For example, a system implementing themethod 400 can track the mouse movements, keyboard strokes, or mouseclicks of a user of the system, or active windows or mouse locationsdisplayed on a monitor or other display device of the system. The user'sbehavior can be monitored to determine if a user has opened, viewed,read, composed, initiated, or received a communication, such as ane-mail. The user's behavior can also be monitored to determine if theuser has performed a search, clicked on a particular item, or selected aparticular item.

Stage 412 determines if the user has made a request to view the personprofile. Requests to view a person profile can include opening, viewing,reading, writing, initiating, or receiving an e-mail or othercommunication. For example, the user can make a request to view a personprofile by typing an instant message addressed to a person associatedwith a person profile. In some implementations, a request can take theform of clicking on or selecting an item. For example, referring to FIG.1A, a user selecting the e-mail 110 in the inbox viewing panel 104 canbe a request. In another example, a user selecting a screen nameassociated with a person can be a request. In another example, a userviewing a blog written by a person can be a request to view a personprofile for the person. In some implementations, a search for one ormore keywords can be a request to view the person profile. For example,a user performing a search for one or more keywords associated with theuser input that was received at Stage 406 can be a request to view aperson profile associated with the received user input.

Stage 412 presents the person profile. The person profile displayed canbe associated with the person towards whom the request was directed. Forexample, a system implementing the method 400 can display a personprofile for a person in response to the user making a request to view aperson profile for a person, such as by searching for keywords in aperson note associated with the person profile.

The apparatus, methods, flow diagrams, and structure block diagramsdescribed in this patent document may be implemented in computerprocessing systems including program code comprising programinstructions that are executable by the computer processing system. Someimplementations may also be used. Additionally, the flow diagrams andstructure block diagrams described in this patent document, whichdescribe particular methods and/or corresponding acts in support ofsteps and corresponding functions in support of disclosed structuralmeans, may also be utilized to implement corresponding softwarestructures and algorithms, and equivalents thereof.

This written description sets forth the best mode of the invention andprovides examples to describe the invention and to enable a person ofordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. This writtendescription does not limit the invention to the precise terms set forth.Thus, while the invention has been described in detail with reference tothe examples set forth above, those of ordinary skill in the art mayeffect alterations, modifications and variations to the examples withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed: 1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method, comprising: storing, ina memory of a computing device, a first person profile for a firstperson; extracting, by the computing device, first contact informationfrom a communication received by the computing device; updating, by thecomputing device, the first person profile using the first contactinformation; and in response to receiving, by the computing device, afirst communication from the first person, displaying, on a display ofthe computing device, the first person profile.
 22. The method of claim21, wherein the first communication is a phone call or a text message,and the method further comprises detecting receipt of the firstcommunication.
 23. The method of claim 21, further comprising includinga communication link in the first person profile.
 24. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising in response to user activation of thecommunication link, initiating communication by the computing devicewith the first person.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the initiatedcommunication is a phone call to the first person.
 26. The method ofclaim 24, wherein the initiated communication is a message automaticallyaddressed to the first person, and the method further comprisesreceiving edits to the message from a user of the computing device priorto sending the message to the first person.
 27. The method of claim 21,further comprising providing an indicator, for display in the displayedfirst person profile, of a presence of the first person.
 28. The methodof claim 27, wherein the first person has a screen name in a messagenetwork, and the indicator is displayed next to the screen name toindicate that the first person is currently logged onto the messagenetwork.
 29. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving a uservalidation of the first contact information, and presenting anindication of the user validation in the displayed first person profile.30. A method, comprising: storing, in a memory of a computing device, afirst person profile for a first person; extracting, by the computingdevice, first contact information from a communication received by thecomputing device; updating, by the computing device, the first personprofile using the first contact information; and in response to a useraction related to the first person, displaying, on a display of thecomputing device, the first person profile.
 31. The method of claim 30,wherein the user action is opening or viewing a webpage containing aprofile for the first person.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein thewebpage is a social network profile page for the first person.
 33. Themethod of claim 30, wherein the user action is listening to a voicemessage involving the first person.
 34. The method of claim 30, whereinthe user action is composing a communication to the first person. 35.The method of claim 30, further comprising including a communicationlink in the first person profile.
 36. The method of claim 35, furthercomprising in response to user activation of the communication link,initiating communication by the computing device with the first person.37. The method of claim 30, further comprising providing an indicator,for display in the displayed first person profile, of a presence of thefirst person.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein the indicator isdisplayed next to a screen name of the first person to indicate that thefirst person is logged onto a message network.
 39. The method of claim30, further comprising: displaying a contact network in the first personprofile, the contact network comprising a list of persons; receiving auser selection of a second person in the list of persons; and inresponse to the user selection, displaying a second person profile forthe second person, the second person profile including a communicationlink for a user to initiate communication with the second person.
 40. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storingcomputer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a computingdevice to: store, in a memory, a first person profile for a firstperson; extract, by the computing device, first contact information froma communication received by the computing device; update, by thecomputing device, the first person profile using the first contactinformation; and in response to receiving, by the computing device, afirst communication from the first person, display the first personprofile to a user of the computing device.